1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of digital data processing systems, and more specifically to a method for managing access to, and authentication of, an operating system or various application software program products which may be processed by the systems to ensure that the operating system or application software program products are used according to the terms of the product's license agreements.
2. Description of Related Art
Growth in the personal computer industry has created a large market for operating system and application software products usable on particular personal computer systems. Accordingly, companies are in the business of developing operating system and application software products which are then marketed to personal computer owners. Typically, such computer software products are marketed on a fixed fee basis in which a user purchases a copy of the software, usually under terms of a license agreement. It has been a characteristic of this industry that in order for the developers of the software to recover the often quite large investment in research and development of the software product, and also the costs of manufacture and marketing, that the purchase price of such software items has been relatively high. This high purchase price has been a barrier, in some circumstances, to the widespread licensing of some software and has limited the penetration in some markets. In addition, some users are reluctant to incur such a purchase without first operating the software, since the suitability of software is very difficult to judge without actually using it.
In order to afford users an opportunity to evaluate a particular operating system or application software product, a developer may offer the user a "trial period" during which the user is granted the right to use the operating system or application software product. Upon expiration of the trial period, the user may either license the product or stop using the product.
Growth in the personal computer industry has also led many personal computer systems manufacturers to "preload" operating system and/or certain application software products on the systems. The preloaded systems may be marketed as "turn-key" solutions, whereby the user is not required to install the software product(s) and may begin useful operation shortly after turning the system on. In addition, preloaded software products may be used by a software vendor as a method of introducing the user to a particular software product(s), which the user may purchase upon the expiration of a trial period.
As is well known, a major problem with regard to the distribution of such software products is the copying of such products or the unauthorized use of such products without compensating the developer for their value. Unauthorized use of proprietary computer programs is widespread. The problem of unauthorized use is exacerbated when software products are offered for use during a trial period. Upon expiration of the trial period, without a means for managing license verification of the software product, the user may continue using the software product without compensating its developer.
Various methods have been employed for preventing the use of programs by persons who have obtained them in an unauthorized manner. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,234 to Edwards is for a System with Software Usage Timer and Counter for Allowing Limited Use But Preventing Continued Unauthorized Use Of Protected Software. Edwards discloses providing a clock having an initial time setting at the time of installation of a software product on a computer system, a constant representing a predetermined amount of time, and a counter. Each time the protected software is operated, the counter is incremented. Determinations are made whether the counter has reached a predetermined value, or whether the current time sensed exceeds the time when the software was installed by an amount equal to or greater than the constant. If the result of either determination is true, a warning is sent to the user and the counter is decremented each further time that the software is subsequently operated. Finally, the software is disabled when the counter has reached a second predetermined value.
The system as disclosed in Edwards, may fail to provide the user an adequate trial period for a system having a software product(s) that have been preloaded. That is, when preloading software products, Edwards would begin to track a user trial period at the time of preloading. As a result, the length of the trial period realized may be less than the length of the trial period designated by the developer. It is envisioned that no trial period could result in a circumstance when the time at which the computer system is purchased and activated by a user exceeds the time at which the software products were preloaded by an amount greater or equal to the test period.